


Lanterns

by Melkur_Mistress



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Everybody lives - almost, F/M, Fixing the colony ship, Happy Twissy ending, Simm/Missy conflict, this made me emo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-18
Updated: 2019-06-18
Packaged: 2020-05-13 20:37:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19258747
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melkur_Mistress/pseuds/Melkur_Mistress
Summary: Simm and Missy conflict. Twissy honesty, angst, tears, but everyone lives...almost. It's a happier colony ship ending, giving us the Twissy we needed while still paving the way for 13.------Missy closed her eyes as the sound of materialisation filled the air and a slight wind cast a welcome breeze against her now feverish skin.“I’m dying Doctor, take my TARDIS, play your hero game and get the people off this hell ship, don’t say...I didn’t get you a nice present this time,” she laughed before feeling overcome by a wave of dizziness and immediately lost consciousness.





	Lanterns

**Author's Note:**

> I appear to be writing my way through some difficult life stuff, the result is a whole lot of fanfic. This one is a short journey of Simm and Missy facing off, Twissy angst and getting them off this ship. This is my easiest 'let's save them all from that ship' solution so far. 
> 
> Twissy fluffiness inside.

Missy sat on the firmest of the hay bales that she had found inside the barn - most offering little support and greater difficulty in getting up gracefully. The one she had selected barely dipped, and this allowed her to maintain her usual corset aided posture comfortably. A glass lantern gave the only light in the darkened barn, and she sat in relative comfort, the lantern on the ground beside her, but the long metal handle still held in her grasp.

She sat and watched the consequences of her past.

Bill, or what was left of her now; the Doctors best student and current favourite human, lost in a powered down wreckage of humanity trapped inside metal. She had powered her down herself, a few words of reassurance, reminding Bill that while she had no reason to trust her, she was not the person she used to be. For lack of a conscious Doctor to turn to for guidance, Bill had acquiesced and allowed Missy to examine her, and thus suspend her systems.

A necessary act of manipulation this time, to stop the growing panic her presence caused and the risks of the potential integration which would see Bill lost forever and a lethal Cyberman in her place.

“I was cruel, wasn’t I?” she said, her eyes moving from Bill to a darkened corner of the barn.

The Master smirked and stepped from the shadows, “can’t hide from you sis, just like you can’t hide from me. Are you standing guard over the toaster?”

Missy inwardly flinched at his callousness, but maintained her composure with a practised perfection.

“Well if I was, I was right to - what are _you_ doing here?”

The Master shrugged and sat down on the hay bale beside her, “thought we could turn her into a weapon, giant walking bomb to take out the others.”

“Finish the job you started by taking it as far as you can?”

“Nah,” he said, shaking his head. “Trying to find a way off this disaster ship now. Converting her was the end of _that_ game - oh yeah, you don’t remember do you?”

He turned to her, his hand cupping her cheek suddenly as he leaned close toward her, his eyes looking into hers with intent.

“You don’t remember all the dreary endless conversations, the way she trusted us, all that hope she never let go of. She was easy prey,” he inched closer, his lips almost brushing against hers as she remained completely still. “Maybe you _do_ \- maybe you do remember how she screamed. _Do you_ Missy?”

Missy closed her eyes and took a slow steadying breath, before opening them again, “all I have are disjointed fragments, but _ten years_ dearest? Ten years is one _long linear_ stretch of time, and the one thing I am clear on, is that _you_ liked her.”

He inched back, his hand dropping from her cheek as she spoke, her voice laced with sincerity, “oh it was callous and cruel, but the feelings, feelings over ten years, that leaves a stronger echo than anything else, and I _know_ you enjoyed her company. Don’t lie to me.”

“You wanna know what I en _joyed_?” he spat, as he stood up, pacing a small patch of ground in front of her before coming to a stop and looking at her intently.

“What?” she spat back, remaining exactly where she sat.

“A decade of waiting finally paying off when the Doctor found out what _we’d_ done to his favourite human. _That,_ was priceless.”

Missy closed her eyes and took a sharp breath inward, shaking her head with a mocking laugh as she opened her eyes and stared hard at him.

“Oh, I could feel every second of _that_ moment dear. You weren’t thinking about tormenting him, not straight away. You were thrilled he was there, absolutely thrilled, and it rolled off you in waves, _right_ to me.”

“Shut up,” he said, turning away and staring at the shadows cast by the lantern on the stacks of hay piled up against the wall behind Bill’s motionless metal frame. “Stop deflecting, because plenty rolled off you too sis,” he said, as he turned back to her, with an almost victorious smile.

“Like what?” she said, releasing the handle of the lantern and standing as quickly as possible given the length of her corset, before taking two determined steps toward him.

He laughed and took a step closer to her, “all that emotion, that delicious taste of shock that I caused you, and the dismay that came right before you reigned all that back in. You actually wanted to be on some rescue mission with him didn’t you?”

“You don’t know a single thing about it,” she said.

“Yeah yeah, you’re right. What do I know? I mean…what else did she talk about in all...that...time, except for how wonderful the Doctor is, and the ‘other last of the Time Lord’s’. You’ve let him keep you like a _pet_ Missy.”

“Go to hell,” she spat.

“What else is it then? Don’t lie to me and say it’s a plan, because even we wouldn’t let it burn _that_ slowly.”

“You wouldn’t understand, but in time you will.”

“I think you just need to remember who you are,” he said as he stepped toward her, grasping her shoulders as he stared hard into her eyes, blocking out the dim light of the lantern at their feet.

“I know exactly who I am,” she said firmly.

“Do you? Because I think you're running from who you are - so you can play this ridiculous game with the Doctor - chaos Missy, power, control coursing through our veins as we hold everything in our grasp - worlds burning beneath us, everything ours. Remember,” his grip slid down to her upper arms as he grasped tighter, determined. “ _Remember_ every glorious victory and how we loved it all.”

She gasped as he closed the remaining distance between them, his forehead resting against hers as he whispered, “contact.”

He slipped into her mind with ease - her barriers just as strong as his, if not stronger, but futile against herself. He channelled everything he could into her mind all at once, as she struggled to leave his grip and break the connection, kicking the lantern in the process, the light falling to nothing but slightly burning embers as flickers of the dying light grew in the hay.

He breathed out and loosened his grip but held her firmly as he sent it all to her - her battle, every death, every scream of terror at their actions over so many lives. Their minds merged, she threw it back to him, hurling the callousness and cruelty of their past firmly at him. In the process, unable to separate her mind from his fast enough, he was squarely hit with vulnerability and tears and loneliness, emotional hurt and pain and love.

He stepped back, opening his eyes and looking intently at her until she finally opened her eyes and met his.

“You did that for _him_ ? You let him lock you up for...his _friendship_? What’s wrong with you?!”

“Nothing,” she said, unashamed of her tears. “Because isn’t that what we’ve always wanted? We just want the Doctor, we love the Doctor! And no, not just him. For me. I just...felt so lost and I knew he would come for me, and...help me to save myself.”

“ _Save yourself_ ?” he said, appalled. “We don’t need _saving_ Missy...well maybe _you_ do now, from whatever it is that’s wrong with you.”

“No,” she said, her voice thick with emotion. “I think I already am, the day I asked for his help.”

He released her shoulders and she stepped back, her eyes falling to the ground, small flames now dancing across the hay covered ground.

Looking up, she met his eyes in the dying light, “go do something useful while I make sure the barn doesn’t catch fire. Three Time Lord minds - it’s ridiculous we haven’t got off of this ship yet.”

He took a steadying breath and helped her to stamp out the flames, reaching for her cheek again in the darkness.

“We could do amazing things together Missy - you and me. Leave with me and seize the universe, control worlds, be true lords of time!. Let me show you it all again.”

His hand dropped from her cheek as it became wet with fresh tears.

“Go talk to Nardole, he’s got some not so useless ideas - we need a plan. If the two of us can’t figure this out then no one can.”

“What are you gonna do - stand guard all night? I’m leaving, the cyber bomb was just a passing thought.”

“I know - I need a walk, get some air and steady myself before I come back inside. I need to fix my makeup and not go in there looking a mess.”

He nodded, despite the fact that she would not see his acknowledgement in the blackness of the barn.

“Ok sis, but you and me - _we leave together,_ because we are better than this ship and these people and these games with the Doctor.”

She remained silent until she heard his footsteps retreating into the distance and sighed.

“It’s not a game anymore.”

 

* * *

  
She waited a while, ensuring the barn was at no risk of going up in flames, and walked out, grateful for the flood of artificial moonlight that met her as she pushed the door open. Securing the door, she began to walk back to the farmhouse until a shape nearby the house caught her eye.

Suddenly flooded with a mixture of all manner of feelings rising within her, she headed straight toward him, realising he was likely not very mobile at that point, and so covering the ground quickly, grateful as well as hesitant to have the opportunity to be alone with him.

She stopped behind the felled tree trunk that he sat on, an identical lantern balanced on a flatter part of the trunk and within arms reach. Her breath quickened as she realised her own relief at seeing him finally out of bed and able to move around unaided.

“Hello Missy,” he said steadily, glancing over his shoulder slightly to catch her in his peripheral vision. “Join me.”

Missy nodded and stepped around the edge of the tree trunk, moving to sit beside him but leaving an expanse of distance that put her only just within arms reach.

“You look much better,” Missy said, glancing briefly at him before focusing her gaze at the darkened shapes of trees in the distance.

“I have to be, these people can’t survive this alone.”

“I’m sorry,” she breathed, turning to meet his eyes.

“I know,” he said, his voice tinged with a sympathy that she didn’t feel was deserved.

“I tried...to reign him in - that’s all I can do now. We are like predators circling each other, but I don’t want the kill, and he knows that, and he toys with the idea that I could be prey.”

“I know this isn’t easy Missy, but hold on to yourself around him. We can figure this out, get out of here, be home for tea and biscuits. You are long past who you were when you were him, remember that, and hold on to it.”

Missy took a shaky breath.

“I’m trying,” she said, the struggle against her tears colouring her voice.

“That’s all I’ve ever asked you to do,” he paused, his hand sliding across the rough bark surface until he reached hers, hesitating before placing his hand over hers and squeezing in reassurance. “You are...doing wonderfully Missy.”

“Yeah,” she said, stifling a sob and pausing to compose herself before continuing. “Doctor, he wants me to leave with him.”

The Doctor felt a flash of panic at her admission.

“Do you? Want to leave with him?”

Missy turned to face him with an incredulous look.

“Of course not! I want to leave with _you_ , and go home to the vault and finish my composition and beat you at chess and eat sweets and scare Nardole. Maybe not go out again for a good long while, because this trip has not been fun. I can’t keep anything from him, he’s me, I’m him, our minds are too connected. Once I go back inside, I need to play a game Doctor, I need to be firmly on his side, and not allow my thoughts to drift for a moment, because something...something is on the edge of my memories and I can’t quite grasp it - but it’s not good.”

“Being alone with him isn’t good either, he’s everything you were, and it’s not you anymore.”

“I know that, but _he_ can’t.”

The Doctor sighed and took her hand more firmly in his, edging closer a he raised his other hand to her cheek and sighed as he felt the warmth of her against the palm of his hand.

“Then for now, you and I, let’s just be here.”

“Ok,” she whispered sadly. “I promise you though, I have a plan, mass electrocution, wipe out the entire Cyber army in one fell swoop, then the rest is just time experiments to get back up to the bridge - isn’t that what we’re good at? We always were.”

“We were, yes,” he whispered, his hearts feeling heavy. “I don’t want to lose you Missy.”

“You’re not going to lose me, I’m right here, playing a dangerous game as always and with every intention of going back home to spend another century mentally torturing the egg.”

“You don’t need another century, we both know that,” he said.

“Then more day trips, but let me choose the destination next time, because this? Not fun.”

“Answering distress calls is rarely fun Missy. There are usually desperate people in trouble with nowhere else to turn.”

“Well,” she whispered as she looked into his eyes, her gaze softening. “I _was_ trying super hard.”

“I know, and you still are,” he said, with a sad smile.

“Kiss me Doctor,” she said, a sudden edge of vulnerability to her voice as she broke eye contact and stared at the dim light slowing with the lantern. “In case it all goes horribly wrong, just kiss me.”

He looked at her, taken back, “...kiss you?”

“Yes, Kiss me. You remember how to do that, don’t you?” she said, meeting his eyes again.

The Doctor smiled at the challenge in her voice, and leaned forward, pressing his lips softly against hers, one arm around her back as he moved closer and his other behind her neck, his hand slipping up into her hair as he closed his eyes, deepening the kiss and feeling lost in the moment. His every sense alive at their proximity, not least the small noise of surprise that she made before every inch of tension left her and she melted into his hold.

He didn’t want it to end.

Missy felt equally as lost to him as he did to her and a moan escaped her, the sound a gentle vibration that they both felt reach right inside of them. As they eventually pulled back, he frowned, wiping gently at her tears.

“Why are you crying?”

“Was I?” she asked, almost absently.

“We’re not regenerating here and were not dying here. We will get back home Missy.”

“Sure,” she breathed. “That’s very convincing. We are out of options without a large enough power source to cause the kind of electrical surge I’m thinking of, and a nice TARDIS to help us get back to yours.”

“A spare TARDIS isn’t really an option,” the Doctor said.

Missy reached into her pocket, pulling out her lip stick and held it up between them, smirking at the look of confusion the Doctor instantly wore.

“This is my recall device, it’s also a lovely shade of Carmine, but aesthetics aside, I can bring my TARDIS here - but not until we make a safe path, it’s a very special TARDIS and I would never bring her this close to trouble.”

The Doctor reached for the lipstick and Missy put it straight back in her pocket, casting him a shocked look.

“What do you think you’re doing Doctor?”

“A TARDIS recall device - we need this kind of technology Missy,” he said.

“Yes. _My_ TARDIS recall device, and I am not using it until we stabilise things around here. This ship is a TARDIS trap and I’m not having _two_ of mine stuck here at once. That's just embarrassing.”

“Ok, we can do that. We need to work on this fast, once we have your TARDIS Missy, we can save these people, and get us all off this ship, and then…”

“And then?” she asked, confused.

“You’ll have your TARDIS, he will have his, the two of you can simply leave, if you chose to.”

“Yes. Annnnd, I don’t choose to. I can park inside yours, maybe we upgrade my situation a little - I move into your TARDIS. Make a sincere promise to stay out of mine, and we carry on...just with less locks and more us time.”

“Prison with benefits?” he asked, raising an eyebrow in amusement.

“You betcha,” she said with a wink. “I’ll keep other me busy, you get started, and once we are well underway, then we bring him in to help. Then do your hero bit, everyone applauds you for being so good and helpful, and once they are finally done with all that, we go home for tea. Plan?”

“Definitely a plan,” he said with a smile as he leaned his forehead against hers with a deep sigh.

“But Missy?” He asked, his voice laced with a deep concern. “If this is such a good plan…... why are you still crying?”

* * *

 

Much later, the dust settled and the Cybermen moved on, the Doctor coughed and rolled to his side, finding great difficulty in even pushing himself up on his hands and knees. Finally managing it, he succumbed to a hard coughing fit.

“Whose the dramatic one now?”

He pushed himself up onto his knees and looked up, instantly relived to see her until she dropped to the ground beside him with a moan of obvious pain.

“Missy, hold on for me, just a little longer,” he said, his hand stroking her hair back from her face.

“Killed...myself,” she said, laughing flatly.

“No, you're not dead, but we don’t have much time left. Where's your lipstick?”

“I killed _him_ you idiot. He’s me now...two of me right here..I’m sure the universe just got...a whole lot...more delightful. No time for makeovers...take it..” she reached into her pocket, raising her arm somewhat weakly as she passed it to him.

He took it and squeezed her hand in thanks, activating it.

Missy closed her eyes as the sound of materialisation filled the air and a slight wind cast a welcome breeze against her now feverish skin.

“I’m dying Doctor, take my TARDIS, play your hero game and get the people off this hell ship, don’t say...I didn’t get you a nice present this time,” she laughed before feeling overcome by a wave of dizziness and immediately lost consciousness.

The Doctor stared between her TARDIS, standing as a tall tree with heavy foliage, and her body, lying far too still, an arms reach from it. He groaned as he pulled himself up, stooping down to grab her under her shoulders and hoist her up as far as he were able given his own condition.

Missy’s TARDIS doors flew open and he dragged her inside, cursing himself as he dropped to the ground beside her. He reached for her now frighteningly cold hand and whispered with every ounce of his remaining strength.

“Without hope, without witness….without reward...but I had wanted to save them all... _and_ _you_.”

 

The Doctor lost consciousness.

_Bill stood very still, watching them both, the Doctor’s arm somehow around Missy’s waist in his last burst of energy before he became still. Heather smiled at her._

_“What will they do? When we put them back together do you think?”_

_“Save everyone I hope,” Bill said._

_“Missy too?”_

_“I think she saved herself eventually,” Bill said._

_Heather smiled and took Bill’s hand._

_“I meant, will Missy save them too, or leave, like her past self did?”_

_“I think she’ll save them too, she’s always scared me…..but she’s not like him, she's different,” Bill said._

_“Then I think you're right - she did save herself,” smiled Heather._

_“What happens now?” Bill asked. “We can’t just leave them here.”_

_“Of course we can,” Heather said, as she squeezed Bill's hand and walked to the TARDIS doors. “They will wake soon, live their lives and maybe, do that together. We have a universe of our own too. Want to see?”_

_Bill smiled as she felt a flash of excitement and nervousness._

_“Yeah, I think I do.”_

 

The TARDIS lights brightened just enough to rouse Missy, who curled into the Doctors arms, murmuring happily until she realised that she was lying on a hard floor. Opening her eyes, she glanced around, frowning in confusion until she relaxed and smiled.

“Oh how I’ve missed you. Did you do a clever thing, or did someone else? Or a bit of both? Does it matter? Being alive is always a nice surprise to wake up to.”

She sat up and took in the familiar purple glow of her TARDIS walls, then cast her eyes to the Doctor, finally rousing as he opened his eyes and appeared instantly confused.

“Morning! Thought you’d _never_ wake up - come on Doctor, people to save, Nardoles to torment relentlessly.....well, _I’ll_ do that last past, got to help out somehow - you’re welcome by the way. Up you get then!”

She stood and reached down, his hand taking hers almost immediately as he got to his feet, pausing.

“We’re alive,” he said, as if testing how the very words sounded.

“Yes, one of my favourite things, not dying. You though, are still leaking a little - I can practically hear it standing this close to you, not to worry though.”

“Not to worry?”

“Course not! I think you have a while yet,”she said, taking his hand. “But it’s only delayed - hopefully for a time, so off to play heroes, then you and me can live a quiet life for a little while, we deserve a treat after all this. When it happens, I’ll be here to help...if you want me to.”

The Doctor sighed, “a little extra time until a new me...I can handle that. You’re staying? Here with me?”

“Unless you had a burning urge to lock me up anywhere else?”

“Of course not, we’re past that, long past that, aren’t we? You have purple round things,” he said with a smile. "Of course you do, I like it."

“Yeah, we _are_ long past that,” she smiled, her hand still in his as she led him to the console. "And yes, it is rather _me_. Few tricks and we can navigate that ship - ready to take another shot at this hero game?”

“It was never a game Missy,” he said shaking his head as squeezed her hand and reached up, brushing her hair from her face as he smiled, the feel of her skin, now a natural healthy warmth again. “But let’s go. Save those people and be back home, settled and watching a movie in no time.”

“Perfect, Doctor,” she said with a lightness as she laughed. “Let’s do it, but after such an awful trip out, I'm picking the movie, and there will be cuddling. You owe me a cuddle."

He looked a her and smiled, "I think I can agree to those terms."

Missy laughed and inched up, placing a soft kiss on his cheek.

"Bet you'll be a hugger again soon - I can just tell."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow and smiled, "how can you possibly know that?"

"Because, my dear Doctor, I fully intend to stand there repeating; 'hug Missy' over and over while you regenerate."

The Doctor laughed and pulled her into his arms, "I can do that now."

Missy smiled as she settled in his arms, the faint hint of regeneration energy slowly building within him as she held on tight, cherishing every last memory before they began to make new ones.


End file.
